An influx of donations helped the Community Country Day School survive its toughest month since filing bankruptcy in November.

Earlier financial projections had the private school running out of money in January. It anticipated $77,241 in revenue and $96,489 in expenses and only had $8,943 in the bank. In December, attorney Gary Skiba, who represents the school in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, said not meeting financial obligations in January could force the school to close.

But reality was more kind to the school, and Executive Director Aaron Collins said that is thanks to "tens of thousands" of dollars in private donations.

"There are a lot of people in our community who believe in our program and decided to support our program," Collins said.

The school's most recent financial statements showed it had cash reserves of $18,042.

Between revenues and gifts, the school brought in $112,993 in January. The extra money allowed it to pay a few additional bills, which brought its total monthly expenditures to $103,894.

As part of the school's bankruptcy proceedings, day school officials agreed to make $11,550 in monthly payments to three of its biggest creditors: the IRS, Northwest Savings Bank and the state Department of Revenue. The school accumulated $175,000 in back taxes and fell $54,000 behind in mortgage payments before filing for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in November.

Had earlier projections held true and school officials been unable to make the required payments, the day school could've been forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which would have closed the school and forced officials to sell the property.

Though the school survived January, Collins said he's not ready to celebrate just yet.

"The road won't get any easier until March," Collins said.

For February, the school is projecting $112,151 in revenue and $106,743 in expenses.

Skiba said the school will receive an influx of state funding in March, and Collins said he plans to hold a fundraiser on March 16 with former Pittsburgh Steeler Rocky Bleier.

The Community Country Day School is a K-12 private school founded in 1968 with campuses at 301 E. 12th St. in Erie and 5800 Old Zuck Road in Millcreek Township. It has about 100 students.

The school is focused on working with students with mental health problems, who have behavioral issues or who otherwise don't thrive in a typical classroom setting.

Collins said the school started having financial issues during the recent economic recession when fewer and fewer people made donations to the school.

School officials are hoping to get an influx of cash from selling a now-closed school building at 10941 Colt Station Road in North East.

Collins said that building was intended to serve as the school's east county campus, but financial problems forced the campus to close about four years ago.

School officials have filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court to hire Coldwell Banker Select Realtors to sell the property. Collins said he hopes to get more than $100,000 for the property.

SEAN McCRACKEN can be reached at 870-1714 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmccracken.